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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Gabriel Fantacone, Civic Engagement Organizer at Churches United for Fair Housing
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Gabriel Fantacone, representing Churches United for Fair Housing, testified in support of the Back Home Act, emphasizing the need for stronger tenant protections and emergency preparedness in New York City. The testimony highlighted the increasing risks faced by tenants due to various disasters and the importance of ensuring the right to return home after displacement.
- Stressed the interconnected nature of housing injustice, emergency preparedness, and tenant vulnerability
- Emphasized the particular challenges faced by immigrant tenants and people of color in navigating disaster recovery
- Urged swift passage of the Back Home Act (Intros 607-609, 749-751, 817, and Resolution 307) to establish permanent protections for tenants against disasters, displacement, and injustice
Gabriel Fantacone
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Good morning.
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My name is Gaudia Panthaconi and I'm a civic engagement organizer at Churches United for Fair Housing.
2:14:00
We represent a broad coalition of 25,000 members through our authority church partners in Brooklyn and Queens, and we are committed to building comprehensive housing justice for working New Yorkers.
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CUF is proud to stand in support of the Back Home Act as the legislation reflects our core values of dignity, justice, and safety for tenants facing displacement and increasingly volatile housing conditions across our city.
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Tenants in New York City live at an ever increased risk of harm, trauma, and displacement from a range of disasters and emergencies.
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In just the past few years, we've witnessed the devastating effects of hurricanes, winter freezes, and numerous human caused fires such as the recent brushfires in Prospect Park and the tragic residential fires that have rocked communities in The Bronx.
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Meanwhile, affordability is plummeting and tenant protections are being eroded with waves of evictions impacting our members again and again.
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These harms are deeply interconnected.
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Tenants, especially those living in unsafe housing conditions, too often receive too little support or protection from landlords or housing authorities.
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This cannot continue.
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That is why we are here today to reaffirm our belief in strong protections for all tenants and in the security needed to confront a future where emergencies of all kinds, natural, structural, or human caused, are becoming more frequent and more severe.
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The Back Home Act is a vital step towards ensuring that our city's commitment to affordable housing includes robust emergency protections and enshrines the right to return home after a disaster.
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Tenants deserve to know that they won't be permanently displaced after tragedy strikes.
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We often hear stories of the routine exploitation faced by CUF's tenant members, many of whom are immigrants or people of color, who are left to navigate disaster recovery alone.
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Despite their essential contributions to our city, these tenants struggle to support their families and lack the safety nets needed to recover from crises.
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And the Back Home Act is essential because it ensures that city agencies are equipped with the tools to protect tenants during and after emergencies and to prevent landlords from using moments of crisis to profit from others' vulnerability.
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This is the legislation that working New Yorkers need to seriously address the intersections of housing injustice and emergency preparedness, and we especially recognize the vulnerable position that immigrant tenants are in being targeted by federal enforcement and predatory landlords.
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This bill ensures that these tenants are included in vital protections and that they have the right to fair, safe, and contingency habitable housing even in the face of disaster.
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Know my time is COF commends the committees on housing and fire for bringing forward this important bill.
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We urge the swift passage of the VACHOME Act.
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That's intro six zero seven through six zero nine, seven 40 nine through seven fifty one, eight seventeen, RESO three zero seven so that we can establish permanent protections for tenants against disasters, displacement, and injustice.
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Thank you for your time and your commitment your continued commitment to the well-being of ordinary working New Yorkers.